Grandfather Robert shoved the battered wooden rocking horse into Josephine’s arms while laughter rolled around the Christmas tree.
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Chapter 23 / 27
Chapter 23 - HEARTHWOOD AT FIFTY
Hearthwood celebrated fifty years.
Grace Nolan invited Josephine.
Not as heiress.
As one shareholder among several.
Employee ownership had grown to thirty-one percent.
Independent investors held twenty-eight.
Family branches held the rest.
No one could control the company alone.
Josephine attended.
I did not speak.
Neither did Robert.
The company displayed early product designs.
One photograph showed Arthur’s three prototype rocking horses.
The third was ours.
Intact.
Before scribbles.
Before trash.
Before Christmas.
A curator asked Josephine:
“Would you consider donating the surviving painted fragment?”
She said:
“No.”
No explanation.
The curator accepted.
May you like
That was governance reform in miniature.
A family-owned company asking instead of assuming.
